A North Shore woman who faced a lengthy prison sentence for a fifth DWI conviction has won a new trial after a judge agreed the arresting officer misled the jury about his prior law enforcement experience.

Hollie Ramirez-Power, 38, of Ponchatoula was convicted of DWI for a fifth time on March 21 and faced a sentence of 10 to 30 years on the charge. Under the state's habitual offender law, Ramirez-Power could have gone to prison for 20 to 60 years, the North Shore district attorney's office has said.

State Judge William H, Burris, however, has granted defense attorney Cameron Mary's motion for a new trial.

"My client is very happy that she got a new trial," Mary said Monday (Sept. 10). "She shouldn't have gone to trial.

"We feel she's going to be vindicated at a second trial, if it comes to that."

The district attorney's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the judge's ruling.

The defense argued that former Madisonville Police Officer Marcus Bergeron lied at trial about the circumstances under which he had left his job with the Causeway Police Department in 2011 and about being employed by the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office. Bergeron claimed he had never been fired from a job.

The defense maintained Bergeron was terminated from his Causeway job after failing to show up for work on two consecutive days.

Judge Burris agreed that Bergeron was technically fired from his job at the Causeway. Bergeron left a voicemail with the police department saying he was not going to be able to continue his employment and was terminated shortly thereafter, Burris said.

"The court notes that although Bergeron's statement was not completely true, it seems as though Bergeron probably thought he quit instead of being terminated since he did indeed call and quit prior to his official termination," the judge said in his ruling.

Bergeron also testified under oath that he worked for the Sheriff's Office from 1999 to 2001. But post trial subpoenas revealed he was not employed by the agency during that time, the judge wrote. He was allowed to attend the sheriff's Reserve Academy as a volunteer, but quit after a few days.

"He was never employed and never worked in any capacity for STPSO," Burris wrote. "Because of the way he worded his response during his testimony, it was certainly misleading to the jury."

Burris ruled that had Bergeron testified truthfully, the verdict would have likely been the same. However, the standard to be considered was whether the verdict would be different in a retrial, he said.

"There is no question that a verdict on a retrial given this blatant discrepancy in officer testimony may lead to an acquittal since there is very little other evidence to corroborate his testimony," the judge ruled.

Mary had sought to introduce evidence at trial that allegedly showed Bergeron lied in other unrelated DWI investigations, but Burris did not allow it, saying the introduction of three other DWI cases would have been confusing to the jury.

Bergeron stopped Ramirez-Power on Dec. 30, 2016, as she drove on Louisiana 22 near Main Street, according to the defense motion for a new trial. The officer maintained she swerved out of her lane, and the DA's office has said she nearly hit several parked cars and swerved into oncoming traffic.

Ramirez-Power was in possession of a prescribed medication, but no evidence was offered that she took any amount of medication to have caused intoxication, the defense motion said.

Bergeron said a field sobriety test indicated Ramirez-Power was intoxicated.

Ramirez-Power submitted to a breath test that showed no evidence of alcohol in her system, and Bergeron did not seek a chemical test to determine the presence of drugs, Mary said in his motion.

Judge Burris has tentatively scheduled a new trial for Oct. 22.

Ramirez-Power has four prior convictions for DWI, two prior convictions for vehicular negligent injury and two prior convictions for possession of illegal drugs, the district attorney's office has said.

Bergeron is currently employed by the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office. Mary's motion for a new trial said he was under suspension in Jefferson Parish, but a spokesman for JPSO said he could not comment on Bergeron's job status.